Subscription Economy News – Week of 3/25/19

American consumers spent more on AirBnb than on Hilton last yearExcerpts from an article by Rani Molla in Recode.

US consumers spent more money on Airbnb last year than they did on Hilton and its subsidiary brands like DoubleTree and Embassy Suites, according to new data from Second Measure, a company that analyzes billions of dollars in anonymized debit and credit card purchases. Their Airbnb spending is even catching up to Marriott, the world’s largest hotel company, which added to its revenue by acquiring Starwood hotels in 2016.

The data shows roughly 30 percent growth last year in US consumer spending on Airbnb, which is expected to go public next year and is currently valued at about $38 billion.

This growth comes as Airbnb, which has traditionally been a way for people to rent space in their homes, branches out more directly into the hotel space. Last year, the company expanded its bookings to include boutique hotels. Earlier this month, Airbnb acquired the last-minute hotel booking site HotelTonight, bringing it even deeper into the mainstream hotel market.

Uber’s Ride Pass subscription service is coming to 16 new cities Excerpts from an article by Alex Castro in The Verge.

Ride Pass, the subscription service that Uber introduced late last year, is coming to over a dozen new markets, the company announced Tuesday. The expansion of Ride Pass — an Amazon Prime-style subscription service that allows Uber customers to pay a monthly fee for discounted rates for all UberX, Uber Pool and Express Pool rides — will include electric bike and scooter trips.

Ride Pass will now be available to customers who live in the following cities and regions: New York City, New York; Dallas, Texas; San Diego, California; Seattle, Washington; San Antonio, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; Orange County, California; Baltimore, Maryland; New Orleans, Louisiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; St. Louis, Missouri; Jacksonville, Florida; and Memphis, Tennessee. They join the five launch cities: Los Angeles, California; Austin, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Denver, Colorado; and Miami, Florida.

To attain the loyalty of fickle consumers who want delivery to be as cheap and as fast as possible, the subscription model is providing DoorDash with a key edge, according to Jack Ruth, head of subscription for the food delivery platform.

“With DashPass, they know that every time that they open up the DoorDash app, they’re going to get a free delivery,” Ruth said. “So, that combination of making a thing more affordable and more predictable was the best way we found to make this a daily habit.”

Why MLB Teams Are Getting Into The Swing of Subscription Loyalty Excerpts from an article by Jim Tierney in Clarus Commerce.

As the MLB regular season gets set to start on March 28, the New York Mets just announced a new Netflix-style subscription program that allows Mets fans gain standing-room-only access to nearly every regular season home game.

For $39 a month, anyone with an iPhone or Android can sign up for the app-based program and download mobile tickets to 78 games this season. Then, they can scan their mobile tickets at the gate.